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Eurovision Song Contest 2014

The Eurovision Song Contest, an annual song competition for countries that are active members of the European Broadcasting Union, was recently held. This year, the contest took place in Copenhagen, Denmark and 37 countries participated. Conchita Wurst, a 25-year-old Austrian singer, won the contest for her song “Rise Like a Phoenix”. Eurovision is one of the world’s largest and oldest music competitions. It started in 1956, and has been broadcast on TV every year since, making it one of the longest running television shows in the world. The participants can sing in any language they wish. The contest is held in the country of the previous year’s winner. Therefore, next year’s Eurovision will be held in Austria. The Netherlands’ song entry came in second place followed by Sweden’s in the third place.

Some of Eurovision’s contestants have gone on to become quite famous. ABBA from Sweden (the 1974 winner), Celine Dion from Canada (the 1988 winner), and Julio Iglesias from Spain (a 1970 participant) are some examples.

Did you know?

Belgium’s song entries in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 and 2008 were in made-up languages.

Did you know?

Austria has given the world some of its most famous composers – Wolfgang Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Franz Schubert. The capital of Austria, Vienna, is referred to as “the City of Music” by many. You can watch a video about Mozart here.